5 Ways In Which Brands Can Add Humour To Their Social Media Strategy

Humour, today is one of the key elements that makes social media activities engaging, everyone loves a bit of fun! People use random words such has #twss #okthnxbye #lol to converse with others.

Keeping this in mind, brands are also acting ‘funny’ (no pun intended) on social media. So what exactly does humour do? There are three main advantages – it captures the viewer’s attention, cuts through the ad clutter, and enhances recall. Social media helps the brand get visibility. Having said that, there are certain things that brands should keep in mind while they plan to tickle their target audience. Here are 5 things that brands can take a note of...

Be witty

The best humour comes naturally. In reality, humour sells only if it is based on a decent idea and great execution. Some of the best brands in India have leveraged humor to such an extent that viewers look forward to newness in humour each time they see a new commercial by that brand.

The classic example of this is Amul’s topical messages. The brand today is looking beyond traditional landmark hoardings to convey its campaigns. Of late, Amul has been releasing its campaigns on social media too. Many of these campaigns are put up rather smartly with just the right amount of humour in it.

Create shareable content

According to many marketing experts brands should start experimenting with content if they want to establish social communities. Therefore, it is essential to generate content that is shareable. The foremost thing that brands should focus on is to break rules or taboos while designing content for viewers on social media.

It is essential for content on social media to have a humorous flavour in it and if possible make quirky use of celebrities. Content on social media has the power to advocate a cause that can be inspirational. Satire, spoof, parody and humour portals such us The Unreal Times, and Faking News are doing a good job in this space.

Analytics support courtesy: Simplify360

Share humour that your target audience can relate to

Being funny can be risky too. Business owners need to be sure that the humour implied fits the bill of their target audience. Being funny may not work for healthcare, financial services or any highly regulated industry. Running tests and focus groups to collect feedback is always a great idea.

Try using an online survey to test your attempt at humour against an internal audience before the brand sends it out. Simply Potatoes is a small food joint that is playing extremely smart with its twitter strategy. Their main objective is to punch in the right amount of humour which relates to the users and also the brand.

Connect the funny thoughts with the brand

Humour is understood differently by different people. It cannot and should not be subjected to a set pattern or norm. Having said this, two things have to be taken care of. Firstly, a brand has to keep the larger target audience in mind and secondly, it should not deviate from its core marketing objectives.

It may be noted that intelligent humour in advertising is currently a popular marketing strategy but in times to come it will certainly sway in another direction. And why should it not? Nothing remains constant forever. It’s funny only till it sells. Vodafone’s ZooZoos are doing a good job as of now.  ZooZoo’s page has topical and funny comments that the audience can relate to, associating it at the same time with the brand.

Don’t overdo it

Comedy is subjective so don’t expect to please everyone. Using humour in social media levels the playing field between big-budget creative ad agencies and a clever marketer.

A classic example of this would be Cadbury 5 Star’s campaign with the two characters, Suresh and Ramesh. It was extremely funny when it was launched. But the brand seems to be pushing the characters a bit too much on the social media now. The content therefore is not funny but is just acting like an aggressive brand push.

It will be interesting to see how in the coming days brands which have the scope of adding humour to their marketing strategy show their fun side on social media platforms. Will they get a thumbs up or a thumbs down?